If you're changing a budget that is part of a repeating budget, we'll ask you how you want to apply the changes you make. Learn more about repeating budgets, how to edit them and how to apply your changes!
Once you've created a budget, you can edit, move or delete it at any time. This can be useful if you want to change a specific event within a repeating budget, amend a budget to better reflect your earning and spending, or change the date it occurs.
When editing or deleting a repeating budget, you can choose whether you would like the update to apply to:
- Only that specific budget event
- All budget events from a specific date forward
- All budgets within the budget series
Creating a repeating budget
Repeating budgets are a handy way to automatically project your future earnings and spending if you know that certain budgets will always recur. Once you create a repeating budget, multiple instances of it are automatically created based on the frequency you've chosen.
Because your budgets determine your forecast, this means you'll have an accurate forecast that takes into account future earning and spending. You'll also be able to rest easy knowing that your repeating income and expense transactions are tracked against their budgets into the future!
To create a repeating budget follow these steps:
- When creating a new budget or editing an existing budget, the budget form will open.
- Under the field Does this budget repeat? Tick the checkbox and select a frequency at which you'd like the budget to repeat]
- If you'd like to edit the start date or add an end date for this repeating budget, select ADVANCED OPTIONS and edit the respective fields
- Click Save or Update
The difference between bill or scheduled income repeating budgets and regular repeating budgets
There are two main types of categories in PocketSmith - bill or scheduled income categories and regular (non-bill) categories.
When you create repeating budgets for these, they are each treated and displayed differently on the Budget page, the Trends page, and the Income & Expense Statement. You can choose whether a category is a bill or scheduled income or a regular category when editing the category.
The way in which you have your category set up will then be applied to any budgets for that category.
Regular category repeating budgets around PocketSmith
Trends page
PocketSmith will evenly distribute the budget for regular categories on the Trends page
Budget page
PocketSmith will evenly distribute the budget for regular categories when the option Use total budget summary date range for budget amount analysisis selected on the Budget page
If a budget period only partially fits into the date range being displayed, the budgeted amount calculated will include just the portion of the budget period that is within this range.
Income & Expense Statement
PocketSmith will evenly distribute the budget for regular categories on the Income & Expense Statement according to the date range being viewed.
Example
John has a $90 expense budget for his 🍬 Treats category that runs from November 1 - November 30.
John has set his Budget Summary date range to show from November 1 - November 14 and has ticked Use total budget summary date range for budget amount analysis
Because PocketSmith will evenly distribute this $90 budget across November 1 - November 30, once John has applies the date range of November 1 - November 14 to the entire Budget page, the budgeted amount showing beside his 🍬 Treats category will only be for $42.
Bill or scheduled income category repeating budgets
- PocketSmith will treat bill or scheduled income category budgets as whole amounts that occur on the day the budget starts (or repeats)
- Repeating bill or scheduled income budgets are not evenly distributed over the budget period from the budget start date to the next repeat date
- On the Trends page, the Income & Expense Statement, and when the option Apply this date range to the entire Budget page is selected on the Budget page, repeating bill or scheduled income budgets are only included in calculations if the start or repeating date occurs within the current date range being viewed
Example
Sally has a budget of $90 for one of her bill categories called ⚙ Insurance.
She started this budget on November 1 and it is set to repeat every three months. Sally sets the budget summary date range to show from November 1 - November 14 and has ticked Use total budget summary date range for budget amount analysis
PocketSmith will not distribute this budget amount of $90 across that three month period, and instead, only considers the bill to take place on November 1st (and then again on the date three months later).
Once Sally applies the date range of November 1 - November 14 to the entire Budget page, the budgeted amount showing beside the ⚙ Insurance category will be the full $90.
Deleting or making changes to a repeating budget from the Calendar page
We recommend editing budgets via the Calendar, as it offers the most flexibility and lets you target budget events on specific dates. From here you can:
- Edit an individual budget event, on a specific date
- Edit a repeating budget from a specific date onwards
- Apply edits to the entire budget series
To edit budgets from the Calendar:
- Head to the Calendar
- Click on the budget event you'd like to change
- This will open the budget form window. Make the changes within the budget form (you can switch between the SIMPLE BUDGET FORM and the ADVANCED OPTION by selecting these options from the bottom left corner of the form).
- Once you're happy with your changes, select Update
- If this is a repeating budget, you'll need to choose how you'd like to apply this change.
- Once you're happy with your selection, click Confirm changes
- The Calendar page will reload with your updated budget
Tip If you want to edit a past budget event, make sure Show actuals in history is unticked so that you can view any budget events on past dates.
Note
If you choose to edit a transfer budget, any changes you make to one side of the budget transfer will automatically be applied in the other.
Deleting or making changes to a repeating budget from the Budget page
From the Budget page, you can:
- Edit or delete the entire budget series for a category
- Edit details for a budget for the current budget period only
- Edit details for a budget from the current budget period onwards
To update a budget event on a specific date, or from a specific date onwards, use the Calendar instead.
To edit budgets from the Budget page:
- Head to the Budget page and navigate to the budget you'd like to edit
- Hover over the budget and click the three-dot menu on the right side of the row
- Select Edit or Delete this budget
- Make the changes within the budget form (you can switch between the SIMPLE BUDGET FORM and the ADVANCED OPTIONS by selecting these options from the bottom left corner of the form).
- Once you're happy with your changes, select Update
- If you are editing a repeating budget, choose how you'd like to apply this change and click Confirm changes
Note
If you have set up more than one budget for this category, you can see these by selecting View all category budgets. All budgets for this category will be listed. Click on the budget you wish to edit.
If you choose to edit a transfer budget, PocketSmith will display both the income and expense sides of the transfer as two separate budgets. You can select either of these, and any changes you make to one will automatically be applied in the other.
Options for deleting a repeating budget
If you want to delete a repeating budget, you'll need to choose how this deletion is applied.
Because a repeating budget has multiple budget events attached to it (based on the frequency you've chosen for your budget to repeat), you can delete just one budget event, this and future budget events, or, the whole repeating budget.
Only this budget event for [date]
This will only delete the selected budget event. All other budget events within the series will remain unchanged.
This and future budget events from [date] forward
This will delete all budget events from the selected date onwards. Any previous budget events in the repeating budget series with remain in your PocketSmith history.
All budget events in this series from [date]
This will delete the entire repeating budget series - all budget events in this particular repeating budget will be deleted.
Delete all budgets in the XYZ category
If you have more than one budget (for example, you might have an older budget that has now finished within a category, or a previous one-off budget), selecting this option will remove all budgets you have associated with the category.
Deleting a related transfer budget
If you are deleting a transfer budget, selecting this option will simultaneously delete the budget associated with the other side of the transfer.
Options for applying changes to a repeating budget
If you change a repeating budget, you'll need to choose how these changes are applied. Because a repeating budget has multiple budget events attached to it (based on the frequency you've chosen for your budget to repeat) you can apply actions to just one budget event, this and all future budget events, or, all of the budget events within the budget's series.
Only this budget event for [date]
This will edit only this budget event in the repeating budget series, leaving others unchanged.
This option is useful in the following instances:
- You have an estimated repeating amount set for a repeating budget, but you want to adjust a particular budget event based on the actual bill amount, for example, an electricity bill
- You generally stick to your estimated budgeted amount, but as a one-off event, you exceeded that amount
- A monthly repeating budget falls on a weekend, but the transaction only occurs on a weekday, so moving the budget event to a weekday
This and future budget events from [date] forward
This will update the current repeating budget sequence from the selected date and into the future. Previous budget events will remain unchanged.
This option is useful when you change a budget, but you don't want the past budget and forecast to be affected, only budgets from the date you have selected.
All budget events in this series from [date]
This will edit all events within the repeating budget. All scheduled budgets from the start date until the end date (if one was added) will be updated with your changes. Note that this does not include any existing one-off exceptions from previous "Only this event" edits.
If the recurring budget began before the current day, this means that the historical forecast balances for your accounts will be changed. This shouldn't cause any issues with the future forecasting balance due to the forecast adjustment events. The following user guide has more information about the forecast adjustments: Balance correction events on the calendar.
Adding an 'end date' for a budget
If you would like to end a budget for good, for example, if you've paid off a loan or cancelled a subscription service, you can do this by adding an 'end date' for the budget.
To do this:
- Head to the Budget page, and navigate to the budget you'd like to end
- Click the three dots at the end of the row, and select Edit / delete:
- Enter an end date for the budget, and click UPDATE
- When confirming how you'd like the changes to apply, select 'All budget events in this series', then click CONFIRM CHANGES
Note
The end date will not be included in the budget's repeating period.
So, if you want a repeating budget to have its last budget on a particular day, select an end date after the last budget event's date and before the next budget event.
Example: I have a transfer budget for my loan repayment that repeats monthly on the 1st of each month. I want this to end on 1 December 2026, as it will be paid off.
So I select an end date of 2 December 2026 to include the last budget event on 1 December 2026.